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Jonathan Trott’s England Lions selection revives the glow of past times Jonathan Trott’s England Lions selection revives the glow of past times
(about 3 hours later)
At first glance there was something very welcome, but also slightly startling about the news this week of Jonathan Trott’s selection in the England Lions squad, accompanied by some cautious talk of a possible reinstatement in time to the full Test team. For the bruised and wary England cricket follower this was all a little unexpected, a rustling back into life from some improbable corner. From a certain angle it feels a bit like the Beatles split up six months ago but no one told Ringo, and here he is now bounding back in through the patio doors, drumsticks under his arm saying yeah that yogic retreat really did the trick let’s get back in the studio and … Hey. Where’s John? And Paul. And, er, Kevin. At first glance there was something very welcome but also slightly startling about the news this week of Jonathan Trott’s selection in the England Lions squad, accompanied by some cautious talk of a possible reinstatement in time to the full Test team. For the bruised and wary England cricket follower this was all a little unexpected, a rustling back into life from some improbable corner. From a certain angle it feels a bit like the Beatles split up six months ago but no one told Ringo, and here he is now bounding back in through the patio doors, drumsticks under his arm saying: “Yeah, that yogic retreat really did the trick, let’s get back in the studio and … Hey. Where’s John? And Paul? And, er, Kevin?”
In reality enough time has passed now for Trott’s return to seem, if not likely, then a reasonable prospect on its own merits. November will bring the one-year anniversary of the traumas of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane and the moment England became effectively post-Trott. If it feels longer this is perhaps a consequence of what came after, and also of the way things ended. In reality, enough time has passed now for Trott’s return to seem, if not likely, then a reasonable prospect on its own merits. November will bring the one-year anniversary of the traumas of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane and the moment England became effectively post-Trott. If it feels longer this is perhaps a consequence of what came after, and also of the way things ended.
With Trott there was no warning. When it comes to the death of Flower-era England he was our own flannelled infantryman, swept away by the first artillery barrage at the Gabba, and the only player to leave the tour with the best parts of that champion team still fresh in the memory. Perhaps this lack of process, of a space to mourn Trott’s passing on, is why the idea of him reappearing at the top of the order seems a little jarring. With Trott there was no warning. When it comes to the death of Flower‑era England he was our own flannelled infantryman, swept away by the first artillery barrage at the Gabba, and the only player to leave the tour with the best parts of that champion team still fresh in the memory. Perhaps this lack of process, of a space to mourn Trott’s passing on, is why the idea of him reappearing at the top of the order seems a little jarring.
Here he is now: the face in the faded picture frame, at the door suddenly with a bunch of carnations in his skinny hand. Trotty. You’re back. No, don’t come in just yet. Oh. You remember Gary Ballance. Gary... lives here now. Here he is now: the face in the faded picture frame, at the door suddenly with a bunch of carnations in his skinny hand. Trotty. You’re back. No, don’t come in just yet. Oh. You remember Gary Ballance. Gary … lives here now.
And yet on reflection it seems clear Trott deserves a chance, at the very least, to fail properly. It is easy to forget now how sudden his fall was.And yet on reflection it seems clear Trott deserves a chance, at the very least, to fail properly. It is easy to forget now how sudden his fall was.
“If the second half of his international career is to mirror the first, then we shall have to toss the name Trott with those of Compton, Dexter and Boycott,” a profile in the Cricketer mused as recently as June last year, at which point Trott was still averaging 50 in Tests, second on the list of post-war English batsmen.“If the second half of his international career is to mirror the first, then we shall have to toss the name Trott with those of Compton, Dexter and Boycott,” a profile in the Cricketer mused as recently as June last year, at which point Trott was still averaging 50 in Tests, second on the list of post-war English batsmen.
The end was savagely swift, an unravelling against hostile fast bowling that began with a wild pull shot off Ryan Harris at Lord’s and ended five matches later in the frenzy of Brisbane, where Trott wasn’t so much dismissed by Mitchell Johnson as combination-punched out of international cricket, whirling and flinching at the crease like a cat startled by a sneezing fit.The end was savagely swift, an unravelling against hostile fast bowling that began with a wild pull shot off Ryan Harris at Lord’s and ended five matches later in the frenzy of Brisbane, where Trott wasn’t so much dismissed by Mitchell Johnson as combination-punched out of international cricket, whirling and flinching at the crease like a cat startled by a sneezing fit.
The real fascination of Trott, though, isn’t in the stats (which are, still, great stats), but in the glorious, even pitch of Peak Trott. From January 2010 to January 2011 England won five straight series, during which Trott averaged 63 and was subsequently crowned ICC and Wisden player of the year, keystone of the last great England Test team at what might yet turn out to be the last moment when being a great test team still had any real meaning. The real fascination of Trott, though, isn’t in the stats (which are, still, great stats) but in the glorious, even pitch of Peak Trott. From January 2010 to January 2011 England won five straight series, during which Trott averaged 63 and was subsequently crowned ICC and Wisden player of the year, keystone of the last great England Test team at what may yet turn out to be the last moment when being a great Test team still had any real meaning.
Hence perhaps that peculiar past times glow Trott carries with him, a touchingly home-made figure in baggy whites, and now with a little distance perhaps the most lovable member of that fine but sharp-elbowed England team: courtly Mr Trott in his high collar and pince-nez, so easily overshadowed by the prancing Mr Pietersen, the swaggering Mr Swann. At its best there is a wonderfully fretful sense of purity about his batting.Hence perhaps that peculiar past times glow Trott carries with him, a touchingly home-made figure in baggy whites, and now with a little distance perhaps the most lovable member of that fine but sharp-elbowed England team: courtly Mr Trott in his high collar and pince-nez, so easily overshadowed by the prancing Mr Pietersen, the swaggering Mr Swann. At its best there is a wonderfully fretful sense of purity about his batting.
Trott doesn’t leave the ball: he waits, deadpan, daring the bowler to come into his zone, and then clipping and nudging, or stepping out to yawn the ball through the covers. Mention is often made of Trott’s failure to hit a six in test matches, but more fascinating is the rigid athletic discipline of a man who can hit 443 boundaries without once happening to clear the rope. What control! What severity! What a long time between deliveries! Trott doesn’t leave the ball: he waits, deadpan, daring the bowler to come into his zone, and then clipping and nudging, or stepping out to yawn the ball through the covers. Mention is often made of Trott’s failure to hit a six in Test matches but more fascinating is the rigid athletic discipline of a man who can hit 443 boundaries without once happening to clear the rope. What control! What severity! What a long time between deliveries!
And now what next? Last November the consensus was that Trott’s England career was over. But here he is again being carefully tweezered through the system and looking a long shot, if he can fix the problems against high-class pace bowling – it’s not just Mitch: Trott’s last 10 dismissals against South Africa have all been to Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel – to open the innings next summer in the first Ashes Test. And now what next? Last November the consensus was that Trott’s England career was over. But here he is again, being carefully tweezered through the system and looking a long shot, if he can fix the problems against high-class pace bowling – it’s not just Mitch: Trott’s last 10 dismissals against South Africa have all been to Dale Steyn and Morné Morkel – to open the innings next summer in the first Ashes Test.
This is of course a very long way off. But stranger things have happened across a decade of comings and goings with England. Perhaps the return of Trott might even stand for something broader, a moment of resuscitation and defiance for a generation of sweat-shopped Test players ground thin by the year-round demands of the ECB’s blue lycra machine. This is of course a very long way off. But stranger things have happened across a decade of comings and goings with England. Perhaps the return of Trott might even stand for something broader, a moment of resuscitation and defiance for a generation of sweat-shopped Test players ground thin by the year-round demands of the ECB’s blue lycra machine. Players who look in a certain light like the final expression of something, the last drops being wrung by the old Test-based order before the sport begins to break down into more diffuse forms, like a group of cosseted ponies frantically carting the last-horse drawn train around the country two years after the invention of the internal combustion engine.
Players who look in a certain light like the final expression of something, the last drops being wrung by the old Test-based order before the sport begins to break down into more diffuse forms, like a group of cosseted ponies frantically carting the last-horse drawn train around the country two years after the invention of the internal combustion engine. There is a truism that Trott was never really embraced by England’s supporters but this doesn’t reflect the reality. “You can’t hurry Trott: No, you’ll just have to wait,” the Barmy Army sang, and he was, in his own way, an emblem of a very English kind of solidity: the music in the piano stool; that vase; Trott 27 not out at lunch on the first morning. Brisbane was no way to say goodbye and who could object, really, if Trott does return one last time, hot‑wiring himself back into existence as a Test-class batsman for a final shuffling half century, and a flickering reminder, before all this, of those brittle glories of the recent past.
There is a truism that Trott was never really embraced by England’s supporters, but this doesn’t reflect the reality. “You can’t hurry Trott: No, you’ll just have to wait,” the Barmy Army sang, and he was, in his own way, an emblem of a very English kind of solidity: the music in the piano stool; that vase; Trott 27 not out at lunch on the first morning. Brisbane was no way to say goodbye, and who could object, really, if Trott does return one last time, hot-wiring himself back into existence as a Test class batsman for a final shuffling half century, and a flickering reminder, before all this, of those brittle glories of the recent past.